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Student Resources

Q: What are undergraduates and postgraduates and what's the difference?

A: Students are called 'undergraduates' or 'postgraduates' depending on their educational status. As a general rule, undergraduates are students who have not yet completed a bachelor course (even if they have completed a lower level course). Postgraduates are students who have.

Q: What does bachelor mean? What does Diploma mean? What does Masters mean?

A: Bachelors, Diplomas, Masters etc are all just fancy names for different levels of qualifications. Different qualifications require different fees, years of study and time commitments, so these names are an easy way to classify them. Here is a diagram showing the different qualification levels in Australia.

Q: What's the difference between TAFEs, Universities and Private Institutions?

A: Universities, TAFEs and Private Institutions are all education providers but with a few differences:
Universities- these normally provide longer courses such as masters and bachelors. Uni's also tend to be more academic based which means more books and essays than TAFEs.
TAFEs- these institutions normally provide shorter courses that are designed to be job specific. As a result they tend to be more hands on that uni's.
Privates- Private institutions offer a combination of short and long courses. They can be practical and academic but most of the time will not be eligible for Commonwealth Supported Courses (CSP).

Q: What are pre-requisites?

A: Some courses teach at such a high level that students require prior knowledge in order to be able to keep up. The required prior knowledge and experience is called 'pre-requisite subjects'. Educational Institutions will specify when pre-requisite subjects are required so plan ahead to make sure you don't miss out.